My Korean Kitchenkorean_food | My Korean Kitchen

So much to do, so little time

sue — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:15:58 +0000

I feel like I am a worn out tyre just about to go flat and a overheated engine just about to stop.

Yes, I am very overloaded from painting, moving, cleaning, shopping, shopping and shopping!

(From Moreton Island, 2003)

I need a break, a relaxing quite time. I would like to gaze at beautiful waves from a tea house or stroll around a glittering fine sand beach under beautiful sunshine. OK, if it sounds too fancy, all I want is to have some good Korean food once in a while.

(Seafood pancake : Haemul pajeon, the most glorious seafood pancake I ever had, 1 month ago)

During my past 2 weeks in Australia, I had a lot of fish & chips, Hamburgers and pizzas, which are the equivalent amount of junk food I would normally eat in a couple of years.

Sorry about delaying the answers for your questions. I think I will finally have some relaxing time on the weekend or early next week, hopefully. Then I can talk about more Korean food and also answer your questions properly.

Thanks for your patience.

Fish Cake Soup 2 (Eomuk-Guk in Korean)

sue — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:17:57 +0000

It is getting closer to Christmas as the days go by and I am still cooking Korean food. There is nothing wrong with Korean food, it is still my favourite kind of food, it’s just that it is Not quite festive enough. I guess it comes down to my lack of creativity with Korean food.

I made fish cake soup the other night, with more natural ingredients compared to my first recipe on this blog. It might be a psychological thing but it seemed taste better because of that. Nothing can beat natural ingredients instead of processed ingredients, right?

Ingredients for 2 people

(Expected prep time – 4 minutes, Cooking time – 30 minutes)

Fish cakes – 150 g
White radish – 100 g
Big size spring onion – 1/2 stalk
Water – 3 cups
Soy sauce – 2 tbsp
Refined rice wine – 1 tbsp
Dried kelp 10×10 cm
5 big size dried anchovies
Optional : Pepper and salt (as you need)

Prep

Cut the radish into thin small squares.
Thin slice the spring onion diagonally.
Slice the fish cakes (whatever size you want, I sliced them in long thin shapes to stick them with some skewers, mostly for looks. )
Run some hot water onto the fish cakes to remove any oil coating.

Cooking

Put the water (3 cups) in a pot and add the kelp and soak it for about 20 minutes. (By the way, if you do this before you start cutting the other ingredients, you can save some time.)
Take out the kelp. (I threw it away, it’s just for flavour)
Add the anchovies then boil the water.
When the water starts to boil, take out the anchovies (throw them away) and add the radish.
When the radish is nearly cooked, add the fish cakes, rice wine, and soy sauce.
Boil it for about 2-3 minutes then add the spring onion. (You can adjust the taste with salt or pepper. It tasted good without either of them though I added some pepper, because I like the smell of pepper)
Boil it for 30 seconds.
Serve it in a bowl.

It was really nice, definitely good comforting food for a cold night. It goes well as a drink snack or as an accompaniment to ddeokbokki (spicy rice cakes). It dilutes the spiciness. You might experience a slightly bitter taste from the radish depending on what kind of radish you use I guess, but it is not a problem at all. Though I will try to figure out a way to get rid of or at least reduce the bitter taste from it.

Here is another tip about how to enjoy fish cakes, but you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.

I made dipping sauce for the fish cakes, which is the same sauce I made for instant dumplings the other day. It is not for soup, it is just for the fish cakes. The fish cakes taste even better with the sauce. I guarantee you.

Related Posts

Fish Cake Soup (Eomuk-Guk in Korean)

What Square Fish Cake Looks Like and is Made of

Fish Cake Stir Fry

Black Bean Paste (Chunjang in Korean)

sue — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 01:18:31 +0000

Black bean paste is a very essential ingredient to make “Jajangmyun”

This 500g sauce is about 1000 won (US $ 1.05)

To be honest, I don’t know much about it, except consuming it.
You can learn more about it from Answers.com

Related Posts

Korea Black Bean Paste Noodles

Instant Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles (Jajangmyun in Korean)

Sweet and Sour Chicken (Tangsuyuk in Korean)

Kimchi

sue — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 04:37:20 +0000

One of the most common side dishes in Korea is Kimchi.
I don’t make Kimchi, because our household doesn’t consume enough to make it worth while.

This is what I buy at the supermarket usually (3,700 won for 500g, US $3.90). This one lasts me about 2 months. You can make soup, fried rice, etc with Kimchi.

You can learn more about Kimchi from wikipedia

Related Post

Thinly Sliced Radish Kimchi

Cheap and Convenient Meals from the Cafeteria

sue — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 11:09:08 +0000

If you live near a university or big corporation, there is a high chance you can get some cheap meals.
In general, eating out in Korea isn’t that expensive, No, actually it is quite cheap since wages are so low in service industries. However meals at most universities and corporations are even cheaper.

I live near a corporation which is one of the biggest steel exporting companies in the world.
Sometimes when I don’t feel like cooking, I just drag my husband there. It’s open to the public as well. Dinner is 2500 won. (Lunch is 3000 won).

This is what I had couple of days ago.

The menu from the top left is: Fish cutlet with tartar sauce, Jeyuk-Bokkeum (Marinated pork with Gochujang sauce), Seasoned Cucumber, White rice, Squid and tofu mixed stew.
It was quite nice, especially for that price. Where else could you get this meal for 2500 won (About 2.60 US dollors)?

-How to buy meals at the cafeteria-

1. There is usually vending machines or a person who sells coupons. So you pay money to get a coupon. There are more choices of menus at universities. (At corporations you can’t choose the menu most of the time.)

2. Follow the crowds. (Not the food rubish emptying line )
If you can help yourself, like a buffet system, then you choose what you’re going to get (Kimchi is unavoidable). If you want some more, you can refill freely. (If they let you of course. Where I go it is very common.)

3. Enjoy the meal.

4. Make sure you empty your food scraps at the end in the bins provided (or put the tray in the place provided) – just follow everyone else.